Macæ
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Macæ () were ancient people mentioned by Pliny.
Variants
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Maki = Macae (Pliny.vi.23)
History
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[1] mentions Voyages to India.....They (The fleet of Alexander commanded by Oncsicritus sailed from India into the heart of Persia) next came to the Promontory of Carmania12 from which the distance across to the opposite coast, where the Macæ, a nation of Arabia, dwell, is fifty miles; and then to three islands, of which that of Oracla13 is alone inhabited, being the only one supplied with fresh water; it is distant from the mainland twenty-five miles; quite in the Gulf, and facing Persia, there are four other islands. About these islands sea-serpents14 were seen swimming towards them, twenty cubits in length, which struck the fleet with great alarm.
12 Called the Promontory of Harmozon by Strabo. Hardouin says that the modern name is Cape Jash, but recent writers suggest that it is represented by the modern Cape Bombaruk, nearly opposite Cape Mussendom.
13 Perhaps the modern Kishon, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf; or that may be one of the four islands next mentioned.
14 The story of Pontoppidan's Kraken or Korven, the serpent of the Norwegian Seas, is as old as Pliny, we find, and he derived his information from older works.